My husband thinks I should be upset

[Jayne266]

The other day at work I was talking to a colleague, and she said to me she wanted to talk to me about depression. She said she was suffering with it and the manager had told her to see me as I suffer from it to.
I am happy to try and help her but my husband feels my manager shouldnt be telling people without my consent.
Is my husband overreacting?

nope

Your husband is right ,your manager should absolutely not be telling anybody anything confidential about you .if it were me I would be putting in a complaint .

Er, hell no he isn't. Your health problems should be kept confidential. Even if you're not upset by it, it's very worrying that your manager doesn't realise how many employment laws he's just broken.

no. where's the confidentiality here. unless you told people it's very bad form.

Depends.

If you told your manager on a private form then she shouldn't have mentioned it.

If you mentioned it in passing then it's not so bad. But she still should've asked you first.

No - your husband is right.
If your manager thought it was a good idea, then (s)he should have asked you first at the very least.

He's correct. Your manager shouldn't but it depends on your working relationship. Plenty of people have successful working relationships that don't strictly stick to HR rules.

I would have a quick word with your boss though as someone else might not be happy with this, or you might not be if the manage told someone you were not comfortable with knowing.

You don't have to be personally upset about it, but I think you should be professionally concerned about it. IMO it would do your manager a whole lot of good for you to request a 1:1 and ask them never to mention confidential medical information to colleagues/anyone again. They should know better.

One or two people at work know, but I have told them personally because I am close to them.

I don't know this person but because of the above I didnt think I had a right to be annoyed.

you're Dh is right!

Your manager ought be reported for misconduct, your medical history is incredibly personal, protected by the data protection act which your HR team should be clued up about, and should not be spoken about by your employer without your consent.
I understand she may have thought she was being helpful but actually not knowing the nature of each person's depression on a professional level she could have done something very damaging.

Suppose it was any other kind of medical condition the manager had disclosed OP eg an STD or haemorrhoids. You might be very upset having such personal conditions being disclosed to anyone else, no matter whether you'd chosen to tell close friends yourself.

I'd be very and have a massive go strong word with the manager.

The manager's action is gross misconduct. Is there an HR department as really you should raise it with them.

Jayne, you could have told everyone in the entire office and stuck updates on a noticeboard, because it is YOUR INFORMATION. It still wouldn't be OK for your manager to tell someone who didn't know.

Your DH is right.

Thank you everyone the truth is it shocked me and made me feel a bit exposed. But I am not the type of person to cause a fuss especially since I have to work with her closely and me and her have had some issues recently.
I know I need to get a grip.

Your DH is spot on. I would be so annoyed if my manager did that.

That's shocking, I'd be livid!

At very least, I think you should write a note to the manager reminding them that your medical history and other personal details are private and suggesting that, another time, the thing to do would be to ask you privately whether you minded such a suggestion being made to another member of staff (whose name they couldn't tell you, of course).

Actually, given what you've said, I'd keep the note calm and tactful but copy it to the manager's boss and/or head of HR. Sounds like there's a training need there. Also, this moves it outside your direct relationship so should actually reduce any sense of personal tension.

DH was correct; and you were bang on with "the truth is it shocked me" - as it WOULD leave you (or any of us) pretty exposed. That is PRECISELY why there is such tight legislation in this area.

Is wrong on SO many levels.

Legally:
1: Breach of Confidentiality under Employment Laws;
2: Health & Safety Legislation given potential risks (to you and the colleague) given it had/has HUGE potential to make either &/or both of you iller given the other is NOT a health professional; plus the predictable 'risk' of stress - on top of your depression - you could reasonably be assumed to feel as a direct consequence.
3) MASSIVE breaches of Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 98) - even if was with no 'intent' but simply through casual negligence, is no defence against breach. Worse, personal Health Data falls under the more seriously classed 'Sensitive' class of breaches of DPA 98.

And then there is morally; ethically; respectfully (list endless).

ALL organisations who have data about a 'Data Subject' (you, me, Joe Bloggs) are required to have a Data Officer whose role it is is to ensure all Data is kept within that as demanded by DPA 98; it's 'Data Principles'; and as governed by the Information Commisioner responsible for ensuring compliance with DPA 98 and to whom all complaints should be made.

Without knowing the size of your organisation, it's a bit tricky to be certain but unquestionably I would NOT raise it initially with the Manager who committed the Tort (the 'Civil Wrong' that it is) and now legally referred to as the Torteuss given HAS breached it, but would instead request 1:1 with HR Director and both speak to them as well as handing over a written letter vis the Data Breach.

You are, incidentally, genuinely entitled to Civil Law Damages for any 'injury' suffered, which includes both personal feelings/impact as well as reputional damages.

HTH.
Apols re any typos - am knackered ATM.